Imperial Lore: “third eye” feature

[Vencio]

Good morning fellow Eorzeans!

I hope your efforts & journeys are thus far going steady & easy!

As I am slowly getting into FFXIV lore, it also overwhelming with how many resources are out there that often contradicts FFXIV’s lore general sorts ranging from Reddit to various YouTube videos.

All in all I know little of the Empire’s lore, but can we safely classify them as another progeny of the Hyur race like Highlander’s?

Any explanation at apl about the purpose for their “third eye” on their forehead? Given none of them can wield or able to manipulate Aether,

Cheers my fellow Eorzeans!

[MikkoAkure]

Unfortunately it’s a nature of the game having multiple writers and being over a decade old that the game’s lore even sometimes contradicts itself now. I wouldn’t trust a lot of RP sites because that’s where a lot of really weird misinformation is created and spreads like wildfire. There’s this one Tumblr blog I really like because the person behind it has categorized everything really nicely and they took the time to source everything and it’s the exact text from the game or from an interview without a filter over it.

In regards to the Garlean third eye, it’s supposed to be an organ that greatly increases their spacial recognition making them better at flying airships and shooting guns. It’s also supposed to be hard like keratin. Only pureblood Garleans are supposed to have it, and 3 half-Garlean NPCs are definitely missing it, but a half-Garlean in the Werlyt quest line randomly has one so I guess that’s thrown out the window now.

[RicaRuin]

They aren't a sub-form of Hyur, but their very own race, most likely descended from the Gougians as suggested in the Ivalice Raids.

[Burmecia]

It’s also supposed to be hard like keratin.

To me, "the eye" always looked like calf's horn nub.



I do not have any theories about that, but that has been basically how I have seen the thing, as nascent horn(?)-like thing.
Could be it nudge to ff lore summoners, who used to sport horns? Probably not, but I haven't counted that connection out just yet, like in my own mind.

[Vencio]

Yeah, that’s as closet as I’ve come to acknowledge regarding their third eye,

Frankly it’s bothering still to this day that some lore is left out of ambiguity & it can be nice & also cringy as we crave more to know more specifics.

All in all thanks for filling in guys!

And were they created as a failed experiments by the Allagan if I followed correctly? I am somewhat aware they’re connected to the Allagans as most races are or just the Mi”Quote.

[MikkoAkure]

And were they created as a failed experiments by the Allagan if I followed correctly? I am somewhat aware they’re connected to the Allagans as most races are or just the Mi”Quote.

We don’t know 100% if the Garleans have anything to do with the Allagans. We do know that we haven’t seen any on the First, which means they were either wiped out in the Flood or they only exist on the Source, which would mean they came into existence after the splitting of the world. The only link that exists is that the Darnus family used to collect tomestones and knew they had Allagan secrets on them.

The earliest a race of people who can’t use aether pops into the record is the city of Goug at the time of Ivalice. After Ramza and Construct 8 fought, the cataract at Ridorana was formed and the people fled to Ilsabard and 7 tribes ended up in the northern reaches of the continent after getting bullied by the magic users of the south.


Not sure why they’re brought up, but the miqo’te certainly don’t have anything to do with the Allagans, beyond fighting them and then getting kicked out from the Eorzea until one happened to come across an Allag princess and magically gave them the special eye.

Otherwise the only playable races who explicitly have anything at all to do with the Allagans are the hyur, who were the Allagans, and the hrothgar and roegadyn, who fought them back in the days of Ancient Bozja.

Edit: I think I remember weird fan ideas being passed as real lore years back that lalafell and miqo'te were creations of the Allagans but not only is that a stupid idea, but it was already proven wrong when we went to the First and found dwarves and mystel there. Just like the theory of au ra have anything to do with dragons was proven wrong because the drahn are on the First and the First had no Allagans and no dragons.

[Enkidoh]

The Allag/pureblooded Garlean connection dates back to 1.0 where Nael van Darnus stated about how House Darnus had a lineage that was traced all the way back to Allag (hence Nael's use of the Lunar Transmitter and controlling Dalamud), and so led to the theories about Garlemald having an Allagan origin. Of course, that was debunked long ago (Cid even stated that Garlemald's level of technological ability "was still in the nursery" compared to what Allag was capable of), although given we now know also that both techno empires were originally founded by the same 'guy' (ala Emet), that statement could still be true from a certain point of view!

Throwing further confusion into the mix about most Garleans being 'highlanders with third eyes', this is not the case as others have mentioned - Nael had the Garlean third eye and yet even in 1.0 used elezen movements and animations, and Nael's elezen appearence confirmed due to his/her unmasking in Turn 9 of the Second Coil, with very elezen facial features and yet, with a Garlean third eye. So whether this was connected to House Darnus's lineage or not was unclear, but Nael seemed to insinuate that.

[RyuDragnier]

In regards to the Garlean third eye, it’s supposed to be an organ that greatly increases their spacial recognition making them better at flying airships and shooting guns. It’s also supposed to be hard like keratin. Only pureblood Garleans are supposed to have it, and 3 half-Garlean NPCs are definitely missing it, but a half-Garlean in the Werlyt quest line randomly has one so I guess that’s thrown out the window now.

Question, did Cid mention that only pureblood Garleans can have it, or was it from somebody else? I'm wondering because it could be either be something that we've never gotten the truth of (propaganda and rumors) or if said NPC is a rare exception. And considering her 3rd Eye is black, does that mean it doesn't work, or does it work differently than a normal 3rd Eye?

[MikkoAkure]

Question, did Cid mention that only pureblood Garleans can have it, or was it from somebody else? I'm wondering because it could be either be something that we've never gotten the truth of (propaganda and rumors) or if said NPC is a rare exception. And considering her 3rd Eye is black, does that mean it doesn't work, or does it work differently than a normal 3rd Eye?

I was under the impression that it was Arenvald who told us about mixed breeds not having the eye because of the whole "scar from his mom" thing.

As far as Severa goes, she's the only one with a black third eye that I'm aware of but she hasn't talked about it so it's anyone's guess what it means or if it doesn't work.

[Tensaihime]

Question, did Cid mention that only pureblood Garleans can have it, or was it from somebody else? I'm wondering because it could be either be something that we've never gotten the truth of (propaganda and rumors) or if said NPC is a rare exception. And considering her 3rd Eye is black, does that mean it doesn't work, or does it work differently than a normal 3rd Eye?

During the pre-Garuda cutscene, Cid does say that only pureblood Garleans have a third eye.